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Longtime Hartington eye doctor will soon see retirement

HARTINGTON – Dr. Roger Filips can clearly see his retirement on the horizon.

The longtime Hartington optometrist's last day on the job will be Dec. 21, as he plans to retire from his business, Filips Vision Source, which he is selling to Unity Eye Centers of Norfolk.

The 64-year-old Filips explained he is about the right age for retirement and he and his wife, Ann, want to travel and catch up with their grandchildren while they can.

'I loved owning my own business and making my own way in life,' Filips said. 'I don’t think I could have worked for someone all of those years. Ann and I will miss seeing our favorite patients.'

He noted he has been thinking about retirement for the last year or two.

'When you own the business, you can’t just give two weeks' notice, and I knew it might be difficult to find a doctor willing to come to a rural area,' Filips said.

'When Unity put together a plan to take over the practice and bring in a young doctor to live in the community, I knew I had to take it,' he said.

The northeast Nebraska native opened both of his business' Hartington and Creighton offices more than 36 years ago – in July 1986.

'I was familiar with Hartington because I had so much family in Cedar County and we came to visit frequently,' Filips said. 'Hartington looked like a small town that could grow.

'It had an ethic of hard work and I thought it would be a good place to start a business and grow a family,' he said.

After he decided to move to Hartington, Dr. Max Magwire, Filips' old optometrist from Spencer, called him and offered to sell him his satellite practice in Creighton.

The Creighton clinic had originally been started around 1900 by Dr. Marvin Kile and then operated by his son Dr. M.L. Kile before Magwire took it over.

'I was very fortunate to have two practices because neither town has enough business to support an optometrist on their own,' Filips said.

He noted his Hartington practice has always been located in the same spot on Highway 57.

'I bought the building from the Federal Land Bank in 1986, and I gutted and remodeled it in 2010,' Filips said. 'Our Creighton practice started on the north side of Main Street and I built a new office across the street in 1992.'

He has strong ties to northeast Nebraska, having been born south of Crofton and raised on a ranch near Spencer.

After he graduated from Spencer High School, Filips attended Mount Marty College in Yankton, S.D., from 1977-80.

He was accepted early into the Ohio State University College of Optometry in Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from there in 1984 with a Doctor of Optometry degree.

Filips then practiced in the northeast part of Ohio for about two years before moving back to Nebraska and owning and operating his own business.

“In addition to running the business, I was able to fulfill my dream of being a country doctor, taking care of about any eye problem that walked in the door,” Filips said.

“I was able to help people with several niche services that are not available anywhere else around here, and I found that very rewarding,” he said.

Now he is selling his two clinics to Unity Eye Centers, which will reopen the business under its name after Jan. 1.

To celebrate his upcoming retirement and express his thanks for the community support of his practices, three special open houses – two in Hartington and one in Creighton – for Filips were held on Oct. 21.

He had lived in Hartington since 1986, except for 1995-98, when he worked in Dayton, Ohio, while getting advanced training and experience at the Dayton VA Medical Center and the Cincinnati Eye Institute.

Filips and his wife have now moved from Hartington to rural Spencer.

“Ann and I are living in our cabin on the family ranch overlooking the Niobrara River west of Spencer,” Filips said.

“We plan to drink coffee on the deck in the morning and adult beverages in the evening while looking at one of the prettiest views in Nebraska,” he said.

In addition, the couple plans to spend more time with their family – including their three children and seven grandchildren – and be involved in Catholic church work.

“My deacon ministry has been transferred to the parishes of western Holt and Boyd (counties),” Filips said. “I plan to keep busy with parish work in Boyd County and promoting my book ‘Pearls of the Universal Church.’” He expressed his gratitude to all of his “loyal patients” who have been supporting his business for all of these years.

“I want to remind everyone else that if they want to continue to have good businesses in their hometown, they have to support those businesses,” Filips said.